Vehicles may include a number of subsystems including an HVAC system, a audio system, and an engine management system that may be controlled by a user interface, such as a vehicle center console. Many vehicles also include capabilities to interface with external devices such as media players, mobile phones, or other handheld/mobile devices. Some vehicles are configured to communicate with mobile devices using a wireless connection, such as a Bluetooth communications protocol, an IEEE 802.11x communications protocol, an IEEE 802.16 communications protocol, or other wireless communication technology. Some vehicles may even have speech recognition capabilities, as such capabilities relate to vehicle navigation on a vehicle console or an external navigation device. However, it is noted that it would be advantageous to have a central vehicle control system that facilitates speech recognition in order to access and/or control remote sources, such as mobile phones, media players, personal digital assistants, etc., over a communication link, wherein the communication link may be wired or wireless.